Exceptionally low crime rate? Check. World-class university? Check. Hiking, biking,skiing, paddling, fishing, kiteboarding, rock climbing, and even Nordic skating all nearby? Bonus. Burlington sits beneath the Green Mountains and across Lake Champlain from the Adirondacks, only two hours from the museums, theaters, and French restaurants of Montreal and three hours from Boston. And this being Vermont, public school lunches consist mostly of produce grown on 11 local farms.

Fort Collins, Colorado

Pop. 137,200

Subtract the microbrew-swilling Colorado State rowdies and you’ve got The
Truman Show set come to life. There are the tidy streets lined by shops and gingerbread Victorian homes in Old Town (priced at $251,000 on average), the 44 manicured city parks, the 1.5 million acres of nearby national forest, and whitewater on the Cache la Poudre River. Not to mention the lack of violent crime. No wonder so many corporations have set up shop here at 4,984 feet.